The inside scoop on food in Los Angeles

Intelligentsia Coffee to open in Pasadena; summer debut is planned

February 16, 2010 | 12:18
pm

Doug Zell, chief executive of Chicago-based Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, said that a new Intelligentsia will open in Pasadena. This will be the Los Angeles area's third Intelligentsia, following the Silver Lake and Venice locations.

"It will be as distinctive as Venice but in an entirely different
direction," Zell says. "Similar DNA but the look and feel is very, very different in a way that hasn't been done in the U.S. yet for a coffeehouse. We want to continue to push the boundaries of the coffee making process."

But Zell said he wouldn't go into details or reveal the exact location until construction was under way and all permits were in hand. A midsummer opening is planned.

The new Intelligentsia "will be very specific to the area where it’s going," he says. "I think that the market [in Pasadena] is underserved. There are a lot of people there that love great coffee."